Two new homes dedicated

First the good news: NONE of our rebuild projects have been damaged in this year's wildfires: a relief to homeowners, donors, volunteers, and all of us at CCLTRG. In fact, though work slowed for a couple of weeks due to mandatory evacuations, we dedicated our first two new homes on Sunday, August 23, in moving ceremonies attended by volunteers from Mennonite Disaster Services (that's team leader Kevin Froese above with new home recipient Rebecca Zion), a member of Washington Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (VOAD), along with UMVIM (United Methodist Volunteers in Mission), World Renew, and other members.

Here's a video from our second new home dedication--for Yitzhak Ben-Harush.

That was the good news. The bad news is that wildfires continue to burn across Washington. Although we don't yet know the number of homes lost and people impacted, we know that the total number of acres burned has exceeded last summer's Carlton Complex Wildfire. We also know that we lost three beloved young men--firefighters, friends, family members--to this summer's fires--a loss that can never be replaced.

We also know that this year's emergency response donations are lagging behind last year's--even as we know that emergency relief donations typically outpace long-term recovery response by a factor of 4:1. So we encourage all concerned readers of this newsletter to donate to Community Foundation of North Central Washington: www.cfncw.org/fire. You can designate any particular community you'd like to support. One of those is the Carlton Complex Long Term Recovery Group--which will expand in the days ahead to incorporate Okanogan Complex long-term recovery, as well.

And finally, The Blues.Join us at the Twisp River Pub on Saturday, September 12, as Too Slim and the Taildraggers put on a benefit concert for recovery. Tickets are $15 suggested donation at the door. The show starts at 8:00 and ll ages are welcome until 10 p.m. Come early for dinner and drinks. We might be burned, but we can still boogie--especially for a great cause!